Peas and Scallions

My First Bunch of Scallions!

Finally cooled off a bit today. Was actually below 90F! Did a lot of work in the gardens getting them ready for my week away. Lots of watering because it's dry as a bone. Went through almost the entire 50 gallon rain barrel! Also added lots of compost and some mulch. Did some weeding and thinning. Even yanked some radishes and got in another planting of carrots and cilantro.
Picked a few quarts of raspberries and made some raspberry jam. Also made a final batch of garlic scape and cilantro pesto. I got the garlic scapes at the local farmers' market. Mine are all gone and I was excited to see some still there. They also had some delicious multicolored carrots! I love trying new veggie varieties at the farmers market. It gives me an opportunity to support our farmers; and we want to support our farmers! And it gives me an opportunity to try new veggies that I may then decide to grow myself next year. I bought a very large spearmint plant to bring to camp with us Saturday. :)

Right now in the garden it's mostly about peas and raspberries. Picking tons of each. I made a delicious fresh pea soup for dinner tonight. Had some bread that I get from a fantastic bread baker who sells at the farmers market.


Photo from: http://brokeassgourmet.com/articles/pea-soup-with-scallions-parmesan-and-basil
**Fresh Pea Soup Recipe: from Roberta Bailey May/June MOFGA 1989
Note: this makes 3 bowls of soup. Next time I'll double it
-1 Cup of onions sauted in 1 Tbsp olive oil...I used some onion and leek thinnings from the garden (I also put about 1/2 cup of fresh farmers market carrots in
-Slightly steam 2 cups of fresh shelled peas
-Add 1 1/2 cups of veggie broth to the onions and then add the peas
- Cook 10 minutes
- Puree anywhere from 1/3 to all of the soup mix. I pureed all of it in my food processor
- Put back in pan and add 1 cup milk - I used raw whole milk to make it nice and creamy
-Heat gently but do not cook; season with some pepper and just a tiny dash of salt if you must use salt
- Serve with minced basil, mint, thyme, and/or tarragon. My guys are very picky when it comes to herbs so I serve herbs minced well and separately. My son choose basil; I chose a combination of basil and mint to garnish my soup with.
- Opt: steam another cup or 2 of peas. Serve the whole peas with the soup. People can choose to add whole peas to their soup.
- Serve with warmed bread and some butter. Herb butter is even more tasty. My herb butter had garlic chives, chives, hint of mint, hint of parsley, basil, thyme, hint of tarragon
Serve with a colorful and crispy garden salad and enjoy!

I may not post for another week. So in the mean time, Happy Gardening!
Mary
PS- Picked our first bunch of greens from the community garden to donate to the local soup kitchen! We picked lettuce, chard, spinach, beet greens, parsley, and 1 pea pod :)
Yeah community garden! I'll update more on that in a future post and get some pictures of it up too.